SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Illinois Department of Public Health has fined Royal Heights Nursing and Rehabilitation Center $5,000 (Statement of Violation) for failure to take the necessary precautions to prevent a resident from leaving the facility unsupervised. The 234-bed skilled care facility is located at 900 Royal Heights Road in Belleville.

As part of an incident investigation, Department surveyors learned a resident, who had a history of wandering and required monitoring to prevent him from exiting the facility, left the center unnoticed. Staff were alerted to his whereabouts by a passing motorist.

Prior to the incident, nurse's notes revealed the resident had been roaming the facility and had to be redirected away from the front entrance after his wander guard ankle bracelet activated the door alarm. One hour later, a woman entered the facility and informed staff she had found a man wandering near a school south of the facility and requested assistance in getting him out of her car. The resident was unharmed.

Per staff interviews, surveyors found no alarms had sounded to alert staff that the resident left the facility. It was determined that the security system had apparently switched to special program that de-activates the alarm system for approximately four minutes at about the time the resident left the facility. This option has since been removed from the security system.

A Department-ordered plan of correction required the facility to ensure all resident-accessible exterior doors are equipped with functional alarms or are monitored by constant visual supervision.

Royal Heights Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has requested a hearing on the Department's action. No hearing date has been set.